The present invention is related to a structural, cladding, and impact resistant panel for building construction, and, more particularly is related to panels having a multilayered structure of three or four materials adhered to each other mechanically or by adhesives and which may be interconnected to form an impact resistant surface for sub-floor, exterior/interior wall cladding and/or roof of a building.
While structural and impact resistant materials are known in the art, thousands of homes each year suffer from high wind, stress and projectile damage as a result of being in a high velocity coastal area such as hurricane and tornado regions.
It is known for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,768,841 to place a metal sheet behind a wallboard structure, such as a gypsum panel. This wallboard structure is then attached to the framing studs of a building with a metal sheet adjacent the studs so that the metal sheet resists in plane or shear loads imposed upon the framing structure of the building. This is to keep the wallboard panel from penetration by foreign objects. However, this patent suffers from the deficiencies that with nothing behind the metal sheet it can bend and warp from the load over time, lessening the panel's overall impact resistance.
From U.S. Pat. No. 7,637,073, it is known to provide a wall structure to provide protection against ballistic projectiles impacting the wall. Again, the wall structure includes an outer panel and an inner panel, the inner panel is a composite structure that includes a metal sheet attached to a wallboard panel and a sheet of self-healing material attached to the opposed face of the metal sheet with a cavity formed between the outer and inner panels. Sand is then added to the interior of the wall to provide the necessary density and impact resistance. While satisfactory, the '073 patent suffers from the deficiencies that it requires shipping of sand to the construction site and pouring of sand into all of the exterior walls of the house; driving up the construction time and cost.